China
Category:Countries China, officially the People's Republic of China, is a formerly Communist, one-party sovereign state in Asia. It is an economic and military superpower alongside the United States and the Soviet Union, and the primary rival to them both. It is a Recovered nation and a major power in Southeast Asia, and the most populous country in the world. Its relationship with the United States is strained, and its relationship with the Soviet Union is incredibly poor. It is a member of the United Nations but it is not a signatory of the 1991 Type-III Regulatory Treaty. History Pre-20th Century The phoenix is native to China. Some of the earliest advances in chemistry were made by Chinese alchemists. During the Resurgence of Wizardkind, the Chinese Mainland was not as affected to the same degree other countries were by this magical revolution and spike in population of wizards, significantly because China itself had not yet attained the level of industrialization required for the exponential burst of magical abilities under Imperial Rule. 20th century In 1927, the previous Imperial government was overthrown and a revolution began to install a communist regime, resulting in the Chinese Civil War where factions, one intending to instead build a democratic republic, and one Communist authoritarian, within the country contested for power. The Sino-Japanese conflict interrupted this as Japan invaded the country, resulting in a temporary alliance to defeat them that would last into World War II. World War II China was a significant player during the Second World War, but due to being heavily damaged and ravaged from the prior conflict, was not able to mobilize significant forces or effectively adapt and use magitek on the level the other nations in the world were capable of. Nevertheless, for the course of the conflict it proved a valuable ally to the Allied Powers. At the conclusion of the war, the civil war resumed and Mao Zedong and his Communist Revolutionaries took control and established authority over the country, while the democratic republic under Chiang Kai-shek fled to the island of Taiwan and established a country in exile there, known as the Republic of China which continued to claim sovereignty over the mainland. As the Communist regime pushed for rapid modernization and industrialization, the country experienced a delayed, postponed Resurgence of its own. The centralized authoritarian regime responded by forming the People's Chinese Ministry for Wizardry, or 中国巫师部 (Zhōngguó wūshī bù), and mandated that all channeling devices be state-issued. This restriction was later lifted in 1999, but other heavy restrictions remain. Korean War, Cold War and Sino-Soviet Split In 1950, during the first portion of the Korean War, China supported Communist North Korea's forces and waged a proxy war against the United States, which had backed democratic Southern forces. The war, lasting only a few years, ended in stalemate with both sides drawing an armistice line at the 38th Parallel across the Korean Peninsula, forming the Republic of Korea and Democratic People's Republic of Korea. China would consider, reluctantly and with some caution, the latter to be an ally for several more decades. During the Cold War, the Chinese annexed the entirety of Tibet and the Himalayas region from 1951 to 1955, with the intent to search for Red Matter in order to begin its research and investigation into magic for military use to bolster its power, but due to a disappointing return of Rm mined and difficulties with its magitek program, China would continue to rely on conventional technology for the next few decades, not revisiting magic again until after the Awakening Incident's end in 1991. Sino Soviet Split Changes in ideologies throughout the 1950s and the death of Josef Stalin, coupled with the USSR's increasing openness and slowly warming to outsider non-Soviet states saw a strain in relations of the Chinese with the Soviet Union from 1956 to 1960. It competed with the Soviet Union for ideological dominance, thinking of itself as the true representatives of Marxist values. US President Richard Nixon's administration opened relationships with China during the Cold War, further pushing it away from the Soviets. By the end of the 60s, the PRC no longer considered the USSR to be an ally, and instead a neighbor that it would be wise to watch carefully. After this point China largely kept to itself and uninvolved in any of the proxy conflicts or heated tensions between the two other superpowers. Awakening Incident The Chinese were one of the hardest hit during the worldwide catastrophe that was known as the Awakening from 1985 to 1990, a fact exacerbated by their large population. Unlike the United States and Soviet Union, the Chinese were reluctant to use their limited nuclear arsenal in the fight against metahumans, feeling that they would be better employed against potential powers that would attempt to take over Chinese lands by taking advantage of the societal upheaval. With the end of the Awakening Incident in 1991, the Chinese approved of the formation of the United Nations' AECIF, but did not sign the treaty of its formation or allow it to operate in its own territory, preferring to deal with the 'metahuman problem' by itself. Controversially it remained a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, the governing body that oversees AECIF, along with the other non-signatory superpowers of the US and USSR. Reconstruction era In the aftermath, the government imposed strict restrictions on Type-III individuals, with rumors coming from the country that they were either used as coerced slave labor or were exterminated in concentration camps. The loss of infrastructure was seen as another opportunity for yet another great leap forward, and rebuilding of infrastructure and expansion of cities was undertaken and fueled by the regime throughout the 1990s to 2020s. This reconstruction period is controversial and seldom elaborated upon by Chinese authorities or historians: the response of China's communist leadership was to initiate a series of crackdowns and seizures on its populace, in order to consolidate resources and manpower. This ultimately led to Hong Kong's civil war to prevent re-intergration, and its eventual alliance with the Commonwealth instead. Magitek finally began making its way into Chinese industry, particularly for the purpose of aiding construction. To this day however the Chinese military has had severe difficulties in weaponizing magic, and cannot come close to matching the United States's magitek weapons, but instead is believed to be quickly catching up to Soviet magitek manufacturing. This is attributed to their existing experience in using magic in construction, and the theft of schematics and copying of Soviet, European, and American designs, but in particular Soviet. The year 1991, the end of the Awakening Incident, saw the Chinese's relationship with the United States slowly begin to degenerate as the Americans were becoming friendly with its primary adversary, the Soviet Union. This made the Sino-Soviet Split even more intensified, with the relationship with the USSR becoming outright adversarial by the year 2000. The Chinese distinguished their brand of communism as separate from Soviet Communism for several more years, but eventually would entirely reject communism in 2029. 2029 China launched its IntraSolar Vehicle, the Shengyang, in an ultimately successful bid to be the first nation to land on the Venusian surface. The launch of the Shenyang caused the rival joint Soviet-American project, which had built a similar ISV and lander, to target Europa for a mission instead. Korean War resumes During the resumed Korean War in 2029, China used its veto power as a permanent member of the United Nations Security council to prevent the AECIF from deploying to assist the American and Soviet troops fighting the North Korean regime. This action prevented the AECIF from being able to lend its expertise, the consequence being the deaths of large numbers of United States military personnel and ground troops, and the destruction of valuable and expensive war materiel for the Soviet forces, with multiple Il-104 aerial battlecruisers being lost. In the aftermath, both superpowers condemned China for their veto vote, blaming the resulting loss of life on what they deemed to be an unnecessarily damaging and blatantly irresponsible act in the pursuit of Chinese national interests. This led to significant tensions at the United Nations general assembly in September. Shift of Power With the fall of Kim Jong-Un's regime, North Korea was formally annexed by South Korea in August 2029, and incorporated by September, reuniting the entire peninsula under the Republic of Korea. This unification represented a negative outcome for China, as it had lost an ally and buffer against western and United States influence in the region. Soon enough, China would come to denounce both the United States and the Soviet Union as well, calling to attention the Americans' interference in the Asian Pacific region with claims they threatened stability and sovereignty of the Asian powers, and called out their hypocrisy in ignoring what China deemed crimes by the Soviet Union that they would have gone to war over in the past when they were rivals. At a summit meeting with the United States leadership in Singapore in October, President Jaichang Liu openly criticized Marcus Whitmore for American incursion into China's sphere of influence, revealing that he was able to speak perfectly fluent English in the process. It also similarly denounced the Soviet Union for encroaching on Chinese territory and would distance itself from its former ally as much as possible, by removing traces of Communism from its government, beginning with rebranding itself as a one-party government with no affiliation to such ideologies. By the time of the Singapore summit meeting with the United States, the PRC's flag had been changed to its new, present form. 2030 By January 2030, all of the government's references to communism had been removed, with the ruling party completely disassociating itself from Communism, and by extension the Soviet Union as its leadership began to find the USSR's relationship with the western world to be too friendly. Any mention of communism by this point had been scrubbed from the state's governing body, with emblems and nomenclature completely redone. Despite this, pundits and political analysts believe that the government has not actually changed its policies or structure in practice. In June, President Liu continued to consolidate power this year, attending a summit in Hong Kong to discuss an ongoing security situation with CLAW following the attempted assassination of US President Whitmore days before, and reiterated China's openly unfriendly and tense relationship with Xanjera. During the conference, China was uncharacteristically diplomatic with the other world powers, reversing its hostility towards the Soviet Union and the United States, making overtures that resulted in a partial demilitarization of the Sino-Soviet border. During the Langford cognitohazard attacks, China was one of the nations most heavily affected by the crisis, being one of the first to fall victim, with multiple incidents. China assisted US authorities in identifying the whereabouts of Kozan Greymoul using their highly advanced facial recognition technology. During the later stages of the attacks, the PRC offered the use of its ISV spacecraft, the ''Shenyang'', to assist in the evacuation of Armstrong Lunar Colony in cooperation with Soviet and American assets. This attempt was met with failure, as another attack occurred during the rescue operation, despite the attempts of relevant parties to keep the operation secret and curtail public awareness; the operation started trending on social media, leading to the destruction of both the ''Shenyang'' and Gagarin Station, causing a Kessler Cascade in the process. Locations and features Flag The new Chinese flag, introduced in late 2029, was designed to reject the ideals of Communism while preserving centralized authority and power for its ruling parties. Five is an important number in Chinese history, and is considered a lucky number. The flag's crimson color is a traditional Chinese color, and was previously also representative of Communism, but has now been repurposed to represent the blood spilled in the formation of the nation, a common theme in flag design. The five stars represent the people, and their arrangement represents the nation's centralization of power, represented by the pentagon seen in the negative space between the stars. The white of the stars themselves represents power and purity. The equilateral nature of its star elements represents balance and equality. The star layout is similar, in fact to that of the Singapore flag. Whether this is intentional or meaningful has yet to be elaborated upon by authorities and the People's government. Locations * Beijing (capital) * Taiyuan * Shanghai Contested territories * Hong Kong: As of 2029, Hong Kong is part of the British Commonwealth. Despite this region being also a recovered, developed and well-off area, the PRC claims that the British Commonwealth had been irresponsible and unable to properly oversee it during the Awakening Incident, nor were they qualified to govern it afterwards. In 1984, one year before the Awakening, there were discussions and the process was begun to release Hong Kong to China's control, but with the Awakening happening, these plans fell through and were abandoned by the UK at the persuasion of people living in the territory, who wanted the UK's, and by extension the UN AECIF's support instead of the authoritarian alternative the People's Republic was going to provide. It was released from British control, but not allegiance, in 1998, becoming its own state. As of 2029, Hong Kong is mostly independent but still affiliated with the Commonwealth in the interest of common defense to deter a Chinese takeover attempt. Almost all UN members recognize Hong Kong as its own independent entity, with the exception of North Korea prior to its fall. * Tibet: Tibet was forcibly annexed into China in 1951. All countries internationally recognize the PRC as having the right to administrate and govern Tibet, with exceptions obviously including the Soviet Union. The United States of America however has recently begun showing signs of reversing its stance to now support Tibetan independence. This area is an area of strategic importance as it is believed to contain considerable Rm deposits which are only just beginning to be tapped by the Chinese, but its autonomy is a source of tension between China and other world powers. * '''Taiwan: '''The island nation of Taiwan, off the eastern coast of China, is the home to the Republic of China, the constitutional democratic representative republic that failed to secure control over the mainland and considers itself to be the true Chinese government, in exile. The claims of sovereignty over the island made by the PRC are in heavy dispute worldwide, but recently the United States has officially stated that it considers the Republic of China to be at least the valid state governing the island.